I was made defence correspondent a year or so ago and I'm still learning the ropes and building up the contacts you need to be good at any speciality.

It was one of the less prominent jobs on the old Mirror.

The effect 9/11 has had is to catapult its relevance right on to the front page. Almost every day there's some form of defence-related story.

It's hugely elevated my chance of getting stuff in the paper. All the other defence hacks I know have had the same experience. Something like Kosovo kicks off and you write everything for two weeks, then get relegated to the back pages.

It makes the role I have to play much better. I have also had an incredibly quick learning curve.

It's all about meeting people and the amount of people I've met in the last year is incredible. It would have taken me five years to meet them otherwise.

I've spent one month in Oman and three months in Afghanistan living literally with the troops.

Afghanistan is going to be an issue for some time. The war on terror is not something that's going to go away.

In the case of Kosovo and Sierra Leone, editors' attention spans lasted for two weeks but, with September 11, unless we catch Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar and all their lieutenants everywhere in the world, the war will never be won.

I think we're far from the end from the offshoots of September 11. We would never be in the position we are in now in Iraq.

Iraq is going to be the story of the next year if not the next three years. The destabilisation and the effect of a proper regime change is going to be massive.

The Mirror is always going to tackle serious issues. What September 11 means is that I get to go to Afghanistan rather than write about bonking brigadiers.

In terms of news reporting on the Mirror, it has been an incredible experience. It has opened 100 doors.